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== Week of August 15, 2011: Mission/Vision Statement  2. This week, we learned about the 5 tasks of strategic management, the difference between a company's mission and vision statements, and how a business defines its identity and success. 3. I found interesting the idea of a mission and vision statement being two completely different things! I always thought they meant the same thing; I now know otherwise. 4. I am still curious about the question "Why is it important for a business to understand their identity and purpose?". It was a question that I did not get an answer to during our class discussions. == Week of August 29, 2011: Strategic Planning 1. This week in class, we learned about the internal and external environments of a company. Four of the internal environment factors are functional, business, global, and corporate. Three types of external environment factors are industry, (confections, pharmacy, etc) national, (U.S, China, etc.) and macro(social, legal). We learned about SWOT; strengths, weakenesses, opportunities, and threats. We took a close look at the Starbucks company to fully understand the SWOT analysis. 2. I found it interesting that people actually take time, outside of the company, to create SWOT analysis' for companies and post them on the internet! 3. We did not go into as much depth about the four internal environment factors (examples) as we did with the external factors. Could you elaborate on what each of the factors consists of?

Week of Septemeber 12, 2011: Shareholder Value/ Finances 1.This week in class, we learned what a coporation was as well as how a company manages their budget and works towards a profit,  2. I found it interesting that there are so many abbreviations on balance sheets and that there are different amounts of money that go to the company and all those who contribute the the success. Also, I learned that the deductions affect the tax credit of the company. 3. This week I felt that I missed too much class time to understand a lot of what is going on and it's only going to get worse being as though our season isn't even in full swing yet. Week of September 26, 2011: Consumer Trends  This week in class we learned about the trends that businesses follow in order to progress in awareness and overall sales. I learned what exactly demographics are and how they affect a company. Demographics are the components such as age, gender, region, income, etc. that affect how and what a company sells. I found it interesting how technology has taken such a toll on the way companies sell their products. In Korea their are digital "vending machines" on the sides of th subways. These allow for consumers to scan the code on the item and within 2 hours these items are delivered to their homes. It is truelly amazing! Also, I found it interesting how there these trends vary year to year, yet they are the same all over the world.

Week of October 3, 2011: Maret Research  Market Research was the focus of this week. We learned about how marketers target consumers as well as how they observe them and create inferences based on the consumer's actions. I also learned that the term for this is called Ethnography. I was interested by the fact that on trial products. there is no "HERSHEY'S" logo across it. I think that is so that people do not automatically create expectations or judgements prior to trying the product. I was also interested in the fact that people are paod to spy on consumers who are testing out the product in the store. Some consumers are even paid to answer questions in regard to the product.

Week of October 10, 2011: Market Analysis  Market Anaylsis was the focus for week 8. This past week we learned how companies annalyze the data that they have collected. We learned what velocity drivers were and how they positively impacted a company's sale progress. Velocity drivers are things like product placement, the display, as well as something to grab a customer's attention. Something that I found interesting was how different candy tastes are. For example, in Mexico, they have a spicy, sour candy drink that is not primarily sold in the U.S. Also, we learned how much time is spent finding what people really like. Ed Martin mentioned that they spent over 300 hours finding what it is that people in Mexico like as candy.

Week of October 17,2011: Product Development  This week in class we learned about what companies do once they have a product idea; Product development. In small groups we actually inovated the Hershey's bar. When our Hershey company speaker came in on Thursday, we got a hands on look at what goes on. I learned that product development is necessary for companies so that they do not waste money on a product that will not sell. I learned that they use focus groups to determine whether or not the product will do good with sales. I found it interesting that on the ReGen drink, people did not want the Hershey's logo on it! Also, I found it interesting that there is more science o the development at Hershey's than I thought.

Week of October 24, 2011: Trial Production  In class this week we spent our time learning about W. Edwards Deming. and his 14 points.I learned that these pertained to the corporate world, despite the fact that Deming was an engineer. We also went to the Hershey Tech center to learn about the process of trial production. We went on a tour to various areas all over the plant. I learned that the Hershey West plant manufactures over 10 million pounds of chocolate per day. Furthermore, I learned about the process in which taffy and hard candies are made and that the difference was only the amount of air they were exposed to when drying. I found it most interesting that at the Twizzler plant, they spend $18 million on sugar. Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that packages are made with this new product and sent out to homes for everyday use. These people then fill out a servey about 2 weeks later to tell how often they would buy the product and whether or not they like it.

Week of October 31, 2011: Branding  This week our focus was branding. We found out what branding used to mean: a fired iron rod used to imprint a symbol on herds of cattle. Today it is more focused on businesses. It is a term used to describe a business and what it stands for. I found it interesting that there are so many different committees in the Hershey's comany; similar to Congress. I also found it interesting that Liz Claiborne bought Kate Spade's company.

Week of November 28, 2011: Special Events This week in class we organized a special event to feature the Hershey's Drops. I learned how different events and holiday's affect candy sales. I also learned that Hershey is creating a contract to sign with the NCAA. I found it interesting how Hershey's does movie promotions when the movie comes out at a specific time during their calendar. When we organized our special event, as I mentioned earlier, we had to account for our audience, our price estimations, our activities, as well as location. It was interesting to have to plan an event like that because I didn't realize how much thinking goes into the process.

Week of December 5, 2011: Product Safety  The focus of this week was product safety. In class we had to research recalls either past or recent, and create a podcast for it. I found it interesting that Microsoft tried to skimp out on a couple million dollars but ended up owing billions of dollars in repair/recall. I learned that there are a lot of components that go into issuing a recall; especially prior to actually making the call to human resources. I found it interesting that Hershey has had less than 10 recalls within the past 40 years! I learned that the biggest recall Hershey's had was the Reese's Cup because of Salmonella poisoning in peanut butter. I also learned that the most recent recall was the York Pieces because of small, metal pieces detected in the packaged product.

Week of December 12, 2011: Product Components  I was in a group with Sharron and Tollae. We were informed about how events in the supplying countries greatly affecet the prices of the exports they have. For example, the civil wars going on in the Ivory Coast caused the price of Cocoa to sky rocket! this happened on two occassions within the same ten years. We also questioned Frank Day about the ethics of the cocoa farms that supply Hershey's with Cocoa. He told us that although there are in fact children who are spraying harmful chemicals and using machetes and missing out on school, they have a farmer class to help improve the pdoruction of pods, which essentially improves their revenue.

Week of January 2, 2011: Packaging  Although this week was shortened, we were thrown a research assignment to discover different forms of packaging and how exactly it affects a company's sales. My paper's focus was on how packaging has been inovated greatly, with a little bit of science behind the madness. When Mr. Spade came in, he made a somewhat intereseting topic into a very intruiging topic. He found a way to keep our attention yet instill knowledge of both the Hershey company and other company's packaging reasons. I found out that the Packaging team has nothing to do with the graphic design. I also learned that the number of Hershey's kisses flags can wrap around the earth and go to the moon TWICE! That's crazy! I found it interesting that the floor stands and counter units were part of packaging.

Week of January 9, 2011: Product Planning  This week we learned about product planning. The main concept of product planning was being able to FORECAST! If you can't find trends in supply and demand, you mind as well quit. I learned that Hershey's is a Make-to-Stock company. They always have to have a certain amount of stock which is called Safety Stock. I found it interesting that there is actually an equation to find a Requirement number for stock. I learned that there are four key steps in the process of production planning: 1) DRP a.k.a the "Wishlist" 2) Constrained wishlist (moves forward by capacity accountability) 3) Convertion of plan into executable production plan (with more details) 4.) Deployment (Where to?) I also found that I like the Jolly Rancher Crunch and Chews. :)

Week of January 16, 2011: Production  This week in class we were assigned a project to research how a specific, random item was made. My partner and I chose Ice cream. I learned that ice cream is heated, then cooled, and pumped with air. I also learned that it was invented by a woman! At the Reese's factory, I found it interesting that the plant produces 25 million Reese's a day and 9 million KitKat's. Also, I found it interesting that they have an entire building for peanuts alone! Week of January 22, 2011: Warehousing  This week was not the most interesting subject matter. I felt that the presentation was boring because there was no real interaction and the slides were loaded with words. However, I did learn that the EDC3lll came in contact with **2.8 billion** pounds of Hershey's products in 2011 alone. This is interesting being as though the Reese's factory produces **28 million** pounds of Reese's per day! Something that I found fun was creating the posters with a partner for a particular type of warehousing and then presenting them to our classmates. It was almost like we were the subject matter experts for a brief moment. :) I think that this presentation could have been better had we been in the actual warehouse, seeing the exact things that we were being talked to about. It would have made it more memorable for us to recall later on for the quiz. Week of January 30, 2011: Order Management =Step 1. “How orders are taken”= Orders are received through telephone, fax, email, web, EDI, and VMI. The EDI software accounts for some 61% of the orders sent in to Hershey’s. These orders sent by phone or fax need to be admitted in a timely manner.

Example:
Bob Smith called and said he needs 3 pallets of Variety Pack boxes (Reese’s, York peppermint patties, and Hershey’s bars).

=Step 2. “Order entry”= The order is sourced, priced, and the credit limit is checked automatically at entry. Phone and faxes are manually inputted. The manally entered orders need to be done so in a timely fashion. Example: Purchase order: 10903 First Date: 2/4/12 Route: UST1 Quantitty: 2,152.000 Gross Wgt: 42,272, 959 Pallet Sp: 33.5 Volume: 1,534.656 =Step 3. “Management by exception”= Usually orders flow through the system as “no touch” orders, meaning that they are clear and error-free. However, there are always exceptions such as price errors, status issues or special requirements which throw up “red flags”. At this point, the order will stop and Customer service will resolve the exceptions.

Example:
Customer wants 7 pallets of mini Reese’s cups. However, after a customer buys 5 pallets, they get a discount. A red flag will go to customer service to be resolved. =Step 4. ATP= ATP is a complex process that may qualify for yet another exception. It considers the complexity of the order as well as the production capacity. This process varies from season to season, as well as by each item.

Example:
Variety packs! A customer wants a variety pack of 12 Hershey’s bars, 24 Reese’s, and 12 Cookies’N’crème bars. =Step 5. Transportation= Once all exceptions are cleared, it’s time to sort through delivery. Transportation planning occurs 48 hours before shipping. After the product leaves the DC, it is now the carrier’s responsibility to reach Point B.

Example:
Shipment: ** Carrier: Off network, Hershey Site: Kroger, Houston-034A Contact: Keya Type: Delivery Live Phone: (717)520-3703 Target DAte: February, 4, 2011 Load: Max candidates: 4

Week of February 6, 2011: Distribution = Week 22 WikiPost paragraph = Warehousing, Order Management, and Distribution are all interrelated. For starters, making all the chocolate that it does, Hershey’s needs a place to store its product, as well as have the ability to easily ship its products. Therefore, Hershey’s has 5 distribution centers (including one in Canada). One of the common themes among Warehousing, Order Management, and Distribution that I’ve found is **organization**. For example, if Wal-Mart orders 4 pallets of Hershey’s products, they can send a carrier to receive the product at one of Hershey’s distribution centers, based on geographical location. This is only possible because the product was stored in a way that workers know exactly where it is at to load the truck. The order placed had to go through the SAP software, and finally get loaded onto a truck in a way that the weight was balanced on the axels properly. How precise! The next theme I noticed was **timeliness**. For example, if Hershey’s carrier is 10 minutes late for a docking appointment at Target, they get a deduction on their invoice. Also, when it comes to Order Management, Hershey’s can’t just tell a customer they will be late or they will start to lose popularity and customers. The third common theme is **logistics**. As one can see, Warehousing, Order Management, and Distribution all needs trucks to carry the product; whether it’s going to be stored or carried to customers. To conclude, the entire “Launch” process has several common themes which can be applied across the board.

Week of February 13, 2011 Public Relations My impression of PR is that they have a stressful job. However, they also have one of the best jobs, being as thought they get to work with celebrities, sponsor events, and control the company’s social media. They overall goal of their job is to manage communications between the organization and the public. I used to combine the jobs of advertising and PR together. I now know that the brand actually speaks through advertising. Advertising also has complete control of the way their product is portrayed. PR on the other hand operates through third-party speakers. They also have limited control over how their product is portrayed. I think that advertising seems more interesting. Making commercials and doing the camera work seems more fun and creative than sponsorships, news broadcasts, and promotions. Although, advertising does have something to do with promotions being as thought they target directly to the television screens of their consumers' households. On the bright side, PR seems like a complex yet enjoyable job, just not one for me. Week of February 27, 2012: Advertising My impression of advertising is that it seems pretty exciting. I understand that there aer two sides of advertising, the Client side and the Agency side. The Client side is in charge of developing the brand strategy and position. Whereas, the Agency side is in charge of the creatives. I found it interesting that actors can get paid $883 just for showing up to a commercial! That's amazing! I also learned the entire process of how an advertisment is thought of and finally produced. It seems like it could be very tedious at times. I could not see myself in advertising because I don't see that job as impacting anyone's life. When I get older I want to influence people and make a difference in their lives. I like forming relationships with people and I don't see that happening in the advertising field.

Week of March 5,2012: Product Placement Today in class we had a presenter come in. He was very descriptive in why things are placed where they are. This week in class I learned just how important it is for the location oproducts. The center of a cooler is referred to as the Golden Zone in Japan. I also learned that in order to increase profits, companies move their products up or down shelves. I find it very interesting that just moving an item up or down less than a foot can drastically change a companies sales. I also found it interesting that there is an entire science behind product placement and understanding the customer. A question I still have is what is the criteria an AVERAGE customer must meet. To explain, not every customer is the same, how do these professionals generalize as they do?